The SAG-AFTRA union set a Monday deadline for
its 160,000 members to vote on whether to give their negotiators
the power to call a strike if needed. Talks between the actors
union and major studios are scheduled to start on Wednesday.
Over the weekend, the studios likely averted another work
stoppage by reaching a tentative deal with the Directors Guild
of America (DGA). That pact will take effect if DGA members vote
to ratify it.
Actors, in their negotiations, will seek higher pay and
safeguards against unauthorized use of their images through
artificial intelligence. Their current deal expires June 30.
In a letter to members urging them to vote in favor of a strike
authorization, SAG-AFTRA leaders said the industry had changed
dramatically with the rise of streaming television and the
emergence of new technology such as generative AI.
"We have fully entered a digital and streaming entertainment
industry, and that demands a contract that is relevant to the
new business model," the letter said.
A spokesperson for the Alliance of Film and Television Producers
(AMPTP), which represents Walt Disney Co, Netflix Inc and other
major studios, had no comment.
The month-long strike by more than 11,500 members of the Writers
Guild of America (WGA) has disrupted production of late-night
shows and shut down high-profile projects including a new season
of Netflix's "Stranger Things" and a "Game of Thrones" spinoff
for Warner Bros Discovery's HBO.
An actors' strike would lead to a broader shutdown and increase
pressure on studios that need programming to feed their
streaming services and the fall TV broadcast schedule.
During the last WGA strike in 2007 and 2008, a studio deal with
the DGA prompted writers to head back to the bargaining table.
On Friday, WGA negotiator Chris Keyser argued that would not be
the case this time. "Any deal that puts this town back to work
runs straight through the WGA, and there is no way around that,"
Keyser said in a video posted on YouTube.
(Reporting by Lisa Richwine; Editing by David Gregorio and Lisa
Shumaker)
(Photo: The iconic Hollywood sign is shown on a hillside above a
neighborhood in Los Angeles California, U.S., February 1, 2019.
REUTERS/Mike Blake/File Photo)
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